Ling Chen wrote an exceptionally intriguing account of several Chinese international students and their experiences as foreigners in the United States. Naturally, this evoked a world of comparability as well as relativity being a reader who has studied abroad in another country. I was particularly captured by Chen’s theory of sense-making. The steps involved in the process made me think more specifically about how I had progressed to reach an eventual understanding of foreign culture just as these students had when I was in Granada, Spain.

Just as the Chinese ‘sojourners’ had done, I assumed to some extent that I knew what to expect from Spain upon arrival. Yet I feel this pertains to most people who travel anywhere; they think they know everything. But it is true, to know or assume to know, is never the same as to experience, and everything I thought I knew proved almost useless. My first-hand intercultural experiences are what provided me with useful knowledge and understanding that would serve as resourceful and beneficial towards my adjustment to the Spanish society. These experiences were all results of social interactions that had raised questions in my mind, for they were typically of unexpected or unfamiliar nature. In the text Chen states, “In practice, true awareness only surfaces when something unexpected occurs” and you realize that “too much has been taken for granted”. The Chinese students began learning the ways of American culture little by little as they faced circumstances in which they had made assumptions, taken too much for granted, or mentally reverted to their own cultural tendencies/customs. This holds incredible truth for them as well as for myself. When something struck me as odd or I suddenly felt out of place or had done something wrong, I was struck with the reminder that I was not in America anymore.

I remember exactly when this awareness surfaced for the first time. I was shopping in a clothing store; what could possibly be different, shopping was a global activity. Everything was going smoothly until I got to the dressing room where I was unpleasantly surprised by the demand that I leave my backpack at the front desk. People ahead of me had touched their bags to a panel on the wall and walked in, but I couldn’t understand why. When it was my turn to go through, she kept motioning and telling me to wave my bag and at first I didn’t understand what she was saying. (Throughout my trip, I came to understand that whenever I became angry or uncomfortable I would speak in English). This is exactly what happened next. Of course I knew how to say “Why can’t I bring my bag with me” in Spanish, but for some reason I couldn’t find the words due to frustration and confusion. Everyone in line was staring at me and the girl at the desk was laughing at me when I spoke in English, telling me that she didn’t understand a word I was saying. Eventually she threw her hands up and just let me in. As I walked on filled with humility and embarrassment I realized that I was on someone else’s turf. ‘The foreign environment was brought to immediate attention’. My post thoughts also consisted of what it must feel like to be a minority in America, where every day may be a struggle to communicate and understand cultural functioning of a new physical and social environment.

I feel that the majority of my sense making was never truly in the moment, but after the fact during periods of reflection. “Sense-making is activated by social interactions, either by direct experience or as a reflection in hindsight.” It’s not until you walk away and have some time to process these interactions that you’re able to actively seek further explanation and make efforts to figure things out. I went home that night and I thought to myself “Of course that woman didn’t speak English, why would she ever need to? I’m in Spain.” In the moment I was thinking “How do you not know what I’m saying”, expecting her to know and understand English. It wasn’t until after the fact that I realized how absurd it was of me to assume something like that.

After reading this piece I suppose I can “diagnose” my behavioral assumptions as ‘unacknowledged expectations of mundane daily routines’ which still remained the same UNTIL I encountered a road block. To me, shopping was not only a routine action but a routine thought process, as was the case for Mr. An, Ms. Bian and the other students who had made cultural assumptions based off of their Chinese intuitions.

I would come to experience more cultural shocks that would raise awareness of my unintentional ties to American culture, as well as my progressive assimilation and uncovering of implicit cultural rules. For example, I learned a lot about Spanish mannerisms when my reflexive American mannerisms went unreciprocated. In the U.S. if you make eye contact with someone on the street, typically you smile at that person. In Spain you can forget about it, they look right at you and keep walking. They might even look at you in a way that says “why are you looking at me”. I discovered a similar response when I held the door for people. If someone holds the door for you in America it is considered a common courtesy, and most people will thank you for doing so. In Toledo they just walked right out or looked at me with that same confused look. I would reflect upon these experiences and typically ask my program director ‘why do you do this, and why did they do that?’ Just as Chen mentioned, the way people experience intercultural communication is usually with the question “What should I make of this situation”, which is precisely what I found myself doing half the time.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece because hearing about other people’s experiences as foreigners puts my own experience into a different perspective. One student’s story about discovering the true meaning of independence and resourcefulness made me remember these feelings as I had felt them. For me, any accomplishment due to a social interaction was a victory and was proof that my knowledge of the Spanish language was my best resource for survival in Spain. It wasn’t simply a topic of study anymore; here it was my life line, it was my means of communication that lead me to experience greater things than just the satisfaction of conversation. There was certainly a point in my trip, more so towards the end when I thought to myself ‘I could live here. I could have a job here and live comfortably’, but what type of job I would hold is unknown. In all honesty I didn’t think much about my career field when I was abroad, I only found myself asking more questions in relation to ‘what am I going to do with my life’. This reading doesn’t make me think about my career path but definitely gives me reassurance that I made a wise choice majoring in Spanish because it has proven to be and will continue to be beneficial to me whether I live in the U.S. or another Spanish speaking country.

Here is a link to the actual reading if anyone would like to view it

https://moodle.umass.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=438671